US stocks down despite interest rate cut

New York, Oct 30 (DPA) Key Wall Street stock indices slipped Wednesday despite the Federal Reserve’s decision to slash the benchmark interest rate to its lowest level in more than four years.The Federal Reserve announced the second rate cut this month in an effort to make loans cheaper and stimulate the struggling economy, but it did not encourage investors, one day after the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average scored its second-largest point gain in history.

Shortly after the Federal Reserve’s announcement, the Dow surged by more than 200 points on what had been an uneventful day of trading. But by the time trading ended, the Dow had fallen by 74.16 points from Tuesday’s closing mark, or 0.82 percent, to 8,990.96.

The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 declined by 10.42 points, or 1.11 percent, to 930.09. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index, however, climbed by 7.74 points, or 0.47 percent, to 1,657.21.

On currency markets, the dollar slipped to 97.06 yen from 97.7 yen Tuesday. The US currency fell against the euro to 77.21 euro cents from 78.64 euro cents Tuesday.